Puffy Sleeve Blouse from a Men's Shirt (Plus Sizing Tips)

I’m embracing the puffy sleeve trend with both arms (pun intended).

I cut up another of my husband’s old shirts to make something for myself. I used Lutterloh pattern 171 for the shirt bodice.

I didn’t use a pattern for the sleeves. I left them in tack instead of taking them apart and cutting them to a smaller pattern. I shortened them a bit at the cuff and then made them fit into the armholes, gathering them and resulting in a puffy sleeve.

Sizing Tip for Refashioning Men’s Shirts:

I hope my experiment in upcycling my husband’s old shirts has inspired you to try refashioning some clothes! I often restyle my own clothes but never think to post about it. I haven’t thought it would be that interesting.

When I started going through a pile of my husband’s shirts (another story for another day of why I have a pile), I thought I’d show you how I transform or tweak them. This is something you can do too!

If you grab a shirt from your husband’s closet or go hunting at thrift stores, here’s what I’ve found to work for me on sizing: go up at least two sizes.

I wear a small in men’s shirts in the bust. If I want to button them through the hips, I would need a medium since most men’s shirts fall straight and don’t allow for hips that are larger than bust measurements. That means I need to go up two sizes from a medium. That gets me at an XL, which happens to be what my husband most often wears. The reason you need to go up at least two sizes is to allow for seam allowance, hemming, having enough materials for facing, waistbands, etc.

If you are only using a portion of the shirt (for a skirt or small tank or kids clothes), you could make do with a smaller size.

If you need a larger shirt than what’s available or have a bigger project, you could find a few shirts that coordinate and Frankenstein them together.

I’ll soon be sharing two skirts I have made that are good beginner projects if you’re ready to give it a go!